The present invention relates to an apparatus for checking or inspecting the quality of rod-shaped, cylindrical objects, especially cigarettes, that are fed from a funnel-shaped storage container to a plurality of essentially parallel chutes, each of which has associated therewith at least one checking or inspecting device and a subsequently disposed ejection mechanism for axially ejecting a defective one of the rod-shaped objects.
In order to package cigarettes that have been produced in a cigarette manufacturing machine, and have possibly been provided with a filter, the cigarettes are supplied to the hopper or funnel of a cigarette-packaging machine, either continuously via conveyer-belt systems, or in batches via so-called trays. A plurality of parallel and essentially vertical chutes are provided on the underside of this hopper, which at the same time serves as a temporary storage means. The cigarettes enter the chutes from above, with the cigarettes being separated with the aid of these chutes. Those cigarettes which exit at a given time from the lower end of the chutes form a layer. A plurality of such layers are disposed one above the other, in this way forming a so-called cigarette block that is subsequently packaged to form a pack of cigarettes. The number of chutes that are correlated essentially corresponds to the number of cigarettes that form one of the layers of the cigarette block.
Since defects or damage can occur not only during the manufacture of the cigarettes but also during their transport to the end of the chutes, it is known to check or inspect not only the number of cigarettes that are combined to form a cigarette block, but also their quality, prior to the beginning of the packaging process. However, this does not prevent cigarettes from being missing, or that defective cigarettes are packaged. Nevertheless, this known checking process assures that after termination of the packaging process, packs of cigarettes having defective or missing cigarettes are separated out. A cigarette is considered defective if, among other things, it is crooked or otherwise deformed, is not completely filled with tobacco, or if the filter is missing or incorrectly placed on the cigarette.
Since with this known process a large number of satisfactory cigarettes, including the packaging material that is used, are sorted out, various proposals have been made for sorting out defective cigarettes prior to the formation of the cigarette blocks. For example, it is known to supply the cigarettes, after they leave the hopper, to the grooves of a drum that rotates in stages. The drum introduces the cigarettes one after the other into at least one checking device, and cooperates with an ejection device in which the defective cigarettes are sorted out, for example with the aid of an air jet that can be turned on in a controlled manner. It is also known to dispose a small or revolving member in each storage chute; each member is driven by a stepping motor and, after carrying out the quality check, transports the cigarettes that have entered the recesses thereof either into the lower portion of the chute, or into an ejection device in which the defective cigarettes are ejected in the axial direction.
These heretofore known constructions have the drawback that they are structurally complicated and expensive, and involve the danger that as a result of the rotating drums and revolving members, damages can occur to the cigarettes due to the high operating speed of the packaging machine. In addition, the control mechanism is complicated and expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the aforementioned general type for checking rod-shaped, cylindrical objects, especially cigarettes, which apparatus, at low construction and control expense, and also with regard to the high operating speed, provides a reliable checking which, like the ejection of defective ones of the objects, takes place prior to the further processing, in particular the formation of cigarette blocks, so that only those objects which are really defective are sorted out, and a loss of packaging material is avoided.